Photos from the past month

We were desperately trying to get good holiday photo of the kids but they wouldn't sit still and be cute....


Terran and Sisi enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with their faces.


Photo op with our dinner guest and our Thanksgiving turkey before getting cooked. Last year, we got a free range turkey from a local farm. This year, we opted for a recession style Turkey, a free one that our grocery store gave me after spending $300 in the previous month at the store, which is not a big deal at all for a family. We brined the turkey and the white meat turned out amazing!


A cute photo of Pat and Sisi. His haircut has been a sore spot in our marriage for the past few months. For whatever reason, he stubbornly goes to the barber down the street named Joe. Joe doesn't take appointments, so men sit for hours waiting for their turn. Joe likes to chat, and he often chats using his hands - while his hands are busy chatting, his customers are waiting. I never complained much about the haircut but these days, it's getting really bad - as you can obviously see in this photo. I think Joe is getting old and Pat needs to find another Barber.


The kids are into computers. Terran loves to watch train videos on youtube.


Terran always loved to read. I even have a photo of Pat reading to Terran when he was just 2 days old. Sisi wasn't so patient with books until now. Now, she would bring a book, says "book" and sit on our laps so we can read to her. She started walking 2 weeks ago and at the same time her vocabulary started really increasing. Now she loves to say "snow", "apple", "book", "ball", and I think she even says "not nice".


A family photo that Reyko took during Thanksgiving.

Another family photo taken by Reyko. This is in Princeton for their tree lighting a day after thanksgiving. It was almost impossible to get this shot because the kids were so all over the place. Happy Holidays!

It's been a while

It has been over a month since I last blogged. For the entire month of November, one or more of us were sick. Now, it's december as we are getting our first flurries. Life goes on full speed for us and it seems like there is not a moment of rest. The lsat 2 weeks, Sierra went from taking a few steps to really walking. She just loves it. She seems to be talking more and understanding more as well. She can make animal sounds, say yes and no, give kisses.... When she wants more of something, she uses baby sign language for more (pat taught her that). The transformation was just so quick and amazing to us. I am feeling rather sick now so I should go lie down....

more photos

I broke my camera and got a new one. Actually got the exact one that I broke. Bought it on ebay and got a great deal! So I can't resist putting up more photos from these few weekends!


More photos from the zoo. Me with my little elephant and cow!


Pat and Terran in front of the real elephant.


Terran and Sisi on a weekend morning, brushing their teeth in our bed. Well, they are suppose to be brushing but it doesn't always work out that way. They love to come crawling in.


I love this photo of the two. They both still have sleepy morning eyes and they look so much alike.


At touch-a-truck. Sisi got to go on the police motorcycle before Terran hopped on.

halloween

Halloween is still days away but ours started on Saturday and it keeps going until the actual day. A nearby shopping center had a Halloween party so we got the kids dressed up for some fun. On sunday, we went to the Boo at the Zoo where the little ones went trick-or-treating all around the zoo. Terran chose an elephant costume this year and he chose a cow costume for Sierra. They both looked so cute. Sierra was so adorable that people came to ask if they could take pictures of her. She is still learning how to walk so it's just adorable to see a tiny wobbly cow.


This photo is from touch-a-truck day last week. Terran loved the garbage trucks and hung on to the spot at the back of the truck.



My pretty smiley Sisi. The light in the kitchen was so nice that afternoon and she looked so cute in her white sweater.


Sierra in her cow outfit trying to climb over the bench where we were having lunch. She's the cutest little cow!




Terran as an elephant on a cheetah carousel. It was his first time on it and he loved it. He also loved seeing in elephants at the zoo in his elephant outfit.

first frost

I woke up this morning to the first frost of the season. It was chilly and I had to scrape a thin layer of ice formed on the windshield before I drove off to work.

Things are continuously looking grim. I went back to work and one week after I started, they laid off 10 people out of about 200. Pat's work is also laying off 5% before the year's end and I worry about our stability. I walk down Chestnut Street in Philadelphia and I see that many of the stores are vacant now. It wasn't like that a year ago.

A few years ago, I wasn't concerned about lay offs at all. But now, with a mortgage and 2 children, stability and security takes on a bigger role. We'll see what happens. Usually, we're just too busy to dwell on this too much.

Now, I'm a working mom of 2 children. It's chaotic. Since I cannot cook dinner after I get home with 2 kids hanging on to me, I prepare much of it at night. This means that after dinner and some play, after we give them bath, read, and bedtime, our night is far from over. We clean the kitchen, wipe down the floor (because it's really gross every night), do the dishes, pack lunch, then prepare for the next night's dinner. By the time we are done, there's little time to just kick back. But I won't complain since I do still have a job and I assume that's the role most parents with small children play.

Last week, we broke both of our digital cameras. Sisi dropped one and I dropped the other. That sucks but I quickly replaced one since we need to document our kids. They just grow up way too fast. Sisi started taking a few steps. Just a few but it's so cute.

Today at work, I learned something so amazing that it totally made my day and made me angry at the same time. A year of absence from CAD didn't affect me much but I sometimes draw a blank on certain commands. Today, I was preparing a sketch for an ASI and I drew a blank on how to draw a viewport. My colleague showed me how then he said "you know how to scale, right?" So I said "of course, zoom, 1/48xp." Then he gave me a shocked, are-you-serious kind of look. He said "yeah, sure, but you can just click here and do this." Wow. Now, why didn't anyone teach me this before. So I asked if this is a new function for 2009. He told me that it's been around since 2000. What the !?X?. Until last week, I was trying to calculate how to scale 3/8"=1'-0" and I still don't know if my calculation was correct. And now I find out that I could have done all this with a click of a mouse. Really, why didn't anyone tell me.

This past weekend, Mercer county had their annual touch-a-truck day. They bring all these vehicles used for municipal services and let the kids go all over them. Terran's favorite was of course, the garbage truck. He liked the driver seat but he absolutely loved standing in the back and hanging on to the truck. For some reason, that garbage truck was the cleanest truck I've ever seen. We got Sierra on a USPS truck and she loved it. We all had a blast and Terran kept asking when we can go back. Not til next year sweetie.... Photos to be uploaded.

Terran is so much fun because he has so much to say these days. Ask Terran who he's going to vote for and he will say "Obama!" And he will say "I'm Obama kid!"

Gieaz v1.1

My dad is part of an internet startup company, or I think that's what it is. At first, my siblings and I asked why a 60 year old man is doing this. Isn't he too old for this internet stuff? I am sure he would say that there is no age limit to possibilities, opportunities, and some fun. Nevertheless, we were glad to find that he has a vibrant group of young professionals on the team.

The product, recently released, is called "Gieaz ListWidget v1.1". It's a powerful search engine and you can download for free at www.gieaz.com

Currently, Gieaz is in Japanese only but of course, you can search in English. It's just that when you are in the process of installing the software on your computer, all the little windows come out in little scribbles. You can still download it by clicking the most obvious buttons for download. Wako is working on translating some of this to English so when that is done, the new English version will be ready.

Since it was just released, there is opportunity to further develop and finesse the software. My dad says any and all comments are welcome. He is expecting me to test it out rather than using google as I normally would. And he asks me to see if my friends could do the same. Please help me by downloading gieaz and giving it a try.

Here's the youtube ad for Gieaz:



And while I am on the topic of my dad, I should introduce him. He turned 60 and he scared us recently by being hospitalized for 2 weeks for some heart condition he had since birth. We didn't know what was wrong but thankfully, they found the problem, gave him medication, and he seems to be back being himself. He works harder than anyone I know; he likes to work. He loves taichi and goes to the park before work for some exercise. He's short. He's a proud Taiwanese. He lives in Japan with my mom. He's serious and he's pretty darn funny. He told me to go to California for college because it's close to home (9 hours flight) and the chancellor at that time was Taiwanese. In the last few years, he took up ceramics and brings back uniquely shaped plates and cups for my mom. He thinks Gieaz is pretty cool but do you?

recently

Lots of chages are taking place in our family. Sierra started school last week. I am not too heartbroken this time around but I worry because she is not eating too well there. I am not sure if she's just trying to adjust or she's just that way. While she's there, I am not in control and things like that worry me A LOT.

I am going back to work next Monday. Originally, I was suppose to have another week to myself but boss called me yesterday to see if I can start a week early. I thought about how much daycare costs and I said sure. Pat's work said that they are laying off another 5% by the end of the year (they'd already laid off 5%) so it's good for me to have a job. Pat doesn't seem to be worried since he thinks worrying is a waste of time, so I worry for him.

Sierra is now in school 5 days a week (only in the am now), but Terran is still only 3 days. So for a few days, Terran and I had the mornings to ourselves. That's been really special since I have not had time with just him since Sierra was born. He likes to talk continuously and we just have a lot of fun. We went to a music class and did a really crazy dance together; on another day, I took him to the farm. We were suppose to pick apples but we just looked at animals, played on the tractor, and ate donuts. Even taking him shopping is fun. It's nice to be able to focus just on him for change.

I don't have any photos of Terran this month yet but plenty of Sierra.
I love this photo of Pat and Sierra laughing. It's so sweet.



Sierra can stand and walk around as long as she's holding on to something like the wall. She's a happy gal.



She likes to walk around with a bag; it's so girly. And she waves by to me as she does this.

No France

So I did plan on going to Nice with Patrick but changed my mind after coming back from Japan. Adjusting to time for the kids was so difficult that I didn't want to go through with it all over again so soon after. So we opted to stay home and I think I made the right decision.

I talked to Patrick a few times while he was in Nice. The first thing he said to me: "They don't pick up dog poop here. It's everywhere and it's nasty." He was busy from early morning at the conference til very very late at night hanging out with his buddies. And he planned to take 3 days afterwards to relax and travel around the area. But towards the end of the conference, Pat was so tired and decided to skip the 3 days and come home. I was really happy that he decided to come home to us sooner because we were all missing him. He told me that he wanted to come home mostly because by himself, he just didn't think he'd find the sites all that interesting. He said that without any diapers to change, a little hand to hold, or a kid to yell at, he didn't see the point. A few years ago Pat would have happily taken off on his own. It's a little sad that he seems to have lost this but it also showed me that he has become "totally dad".

For women, we become moms the instant we pop out our first baby and hold the little thing in our arms. There is no going back after that and we become all consumed with our responsibility for the new life. For men, it's a different story; it takes time. Even though they try, mr. selfishness gets in the way more than just once in awhile. But now, there's evidence that Pat is there. He may still have his "me" moments, but in essence, he's really "dad" now. You may disagree with my view of men (especially if you are one), but ask any married woman and she will agree with me completely!

So there was no France for me, and France was cut short for Pat.

Sept.

Just realized that it has almost been a month since my last blog. I think it's because I had to watch the Olympics, then the DNC, and then a small part of RNC. All these add up to be about a month.

Sierra turned 1 at the end of August. It has been an incredibly fast but happy year. She slept through the first 4 months, and she didn't move for another 4 months. Finally at month 8, she started becoming more active. Now at 12 months, she crawls, walks while supporting herself on the wall, tries to grab Terran's toys, and says a few words. Unlike Terran whose first and favorite word was "dada", Sierra loves to say "mama". She's such a girly girl. She loves stuffed animals and loves to play with my hats and jewelry. It's been such a great year to be able to spend so much time with her. Next week, she will be starting daycare. I will be back to work at the beginning of October. It's going to be a lot of change for both of us.



Terran and Sierra with their favorite snack: Yogurt Pop. 2 cups of whole milk yogurt, 2 cups of blueberries (or whatever berries), a few tablespoons of sugar, blend it and freeze in ice pop trays. Yum!



Sierra's birthday cake. I was going to make a cake but that didn't happen so I got a cheesecake with lots of fruits on top. After we sang her song, they devoured the fruits right from the cake and left the cheesecake untouched. So we had the cheesecake for breakfast!



On a hot summer day, if I don't feel like dragging them to the pool, I give them buckets of water and let them splash in the back.



My baby!

Terran's weekend

Terran had a very brave weekend when we went to the Philly zoo. At first, he was afraid to get on the horse for a horse ride so I rode with him. Then he decided that he will go on a pony ride all by himself. He fed the goats, letting them take food from his fingers, and also took a brush so he could brush their hair. I am a very proud mom!


Terran brushing the goat



Terran on the pony



Terran and me on the horse. I can see why Terran was afraid to get on because I was a little afraid as well. After the ride, I said "good job, Terran!" and he said "good job, mama!"


After a very exciting day at the zoo, he got really cranky and then crashed on the stroller, while Sierra looks on.

Stressed out

I've been totally stressed out these days. First, I thought it was due to the time change and adjusting the kids back to schedule from Japan. Then, Pat thought it was PMS. After getting past both of these, I am still stressed. It's bad because little things that Pat does irritates me more than usual. And I make nasty comments which gets him upset. I really need to snap out of it. On the positive side, I lost 5 lbs in 2 weeks because of it.

So this weekend, it was good to take a trip to Connecticut for my friends' wedding. Before we went, I asked my friends if it was OK to bring the kids and they gave a nod. But I was surprised to find that there were no other kids at the wedding. Still, both Terran and Sierra behaved surprisingly well. They were both happy during the whole 5 hours that we were there. They ate, they laughed, they ran around, and they were sweet to the people around us. I am so proud of them!

A rare family photo from the wedding.




Sierra:

Sierra's weight check

We have been jet lagged for a week and I am stressed and exhausted. It just started getting a bit better the last 2 nights. Sierra cries in bed for an hour before she goes to sleep.... She wakes up once at night but after I nurse her, she goes back to bed. Due to the change of environment, and a bit of stress on her part, she also went on a nursing strike. For a few days, she refused to nurse, which freaked me out. I tried to give her water but she didn't want it. So I ended up giving her apple juice straight from the juice box, which she took but is a big no-no for babies. I also got her some yogurt drink and she seems to like that. Slowly, she is coming back to me. I just can't nurse her in her room where we have our rocking chair. At night, I bring her into my room, turn on the TV to pretend that we're not going to nurse - just watch TV, then she would start. What a trip.

Size has been an issue for both of my children. I think Terran was about 18 lb at 12 months. Sierra is even smaller - 16 lb 6 oz as of 11 months. She likes to eat, and usually, she nurses often and a lot. But her weight gain is slow. So I was happy to find out that she gained a pound since 2 months ago! The doc was OK with it too. She just blames me (for my shortness) and Pat (for his super metabolism) for the sizes of my children. Sigh....

Terran went back to school this week, just for 2 days. He will be transitioning to pre-school next week. Sierra will also be starting daycare in Sept when I go back to work. That's going to be another stress and heartache for me. Another sigh....

More photos from Japan:



Pat and Terran went to the Mitsubishi industrial museum in Minato Mirai and had a blast. It show cases all the high tech stuff that Mitsubishi is working on and kids get to play with them. Here, Terran is operating a train virtually. Excellent!



We went on a trip to Karuizawa. It stays relatively cool during the summer and historically a place where foreigners set up their vacation homes. John Lennon vacationed there while in Japan. Now it's a summer resort town for anyone. The place is woodsy and charming. Terran just loved the playground.


Sierra and Patrick in Karizawa.


Riding on the trains was the highlight of the trip for Terran. Before our big trips outside of Yokohama, he dragged my parents many times to go on subways, trains, and monorails. He saw all the trains that he loves. This is a photo of Terran in front of MAX Yamabiko. Notice that he is holding a little toy train version of it.



Taken in front of Terran's favorite train, E-3kei Komachi. I don't care much about trains but this one was really beautiful.

Because of this trip, I know so much about shinkansen. When I reserve seats, I've said exactly which seat I want so Terran can be on the second floor of the double decker, facing the ocean, with a playroom on the lower floor. I specify the model of the trains, so Terran can be on Max Yamabiko, going one way, and on Komachi coming back. For us to actually be on Komachi, I had to specify the exact train number, since Komachi is pulled by another train, and we had to get seats somewhere on the last 8 trains. Am I doing too much for him and his obsession?

more photos

I guess the Japanese love waterfalls. They build beautiful viewing spots in front of it, often with a quiet teahouse or a restaurant. This one is Yudaki falls, a waterfall of hot spring water. It almost seemed wasteful watching the water gushing by.


Terran and my dad walking the trails around Yudaki falls.


My dad and I climbed up 1/2 km to the top of Yudaki falls, only to find out that there's a road right by and one could drive there. Later on, we did drive there so everyone could see the top. The top of the waterfall is calm and rather uneventful.


At Toshogu temple in Nikko. The place is colorful and mystical, even with hundreds of tourists. Each building is ornate and extremely colorful. I wish we had more time there but Terran was not impressed....


Patrick and Sierra on the dock in front of Nikko house. Enjoying the coolness of the late afternoon.

some photos

We're back and very jet lagged. I had been sleeping with Terran for the last 2 months. Now, he doesn't want to sleep in his room. Sierra had forgotten her own house and doesn't let go of me. Our house is a mess from the unpacking. But we had a great time in Japan!



Sisi biting my mom's nose.



My pretty Sierra.


Terran's 3rd birthday! Happy Birthday Terran!


Sierra, My dad, and I in front of Kengon-no-taki waterfalls. It was very foggy but the view was spectacular. Sisi could bearly take her eyes off the falls.




Terran in front of Nikko house. This is the summer house that we visited as a family every year when I was a kid. My mom has so many photos of me, just like this one, in front of the house. It was nice to be able to bring the kids and Patrick there. Patrick really loved Nikko, the house, and Chuzenjiko, the lake. A cool welcome relief from the hot summer days in Yokohama.

We are still in Japan

I haven't blogged in awhile but we are still here in Japan - for just another week. Patrick came on July 5 and we have been doing lots since then. We are able to go out on our own at night while the kids sleep and my parents are at home. The other night, we went to Japanese restaurant called "show". We were served 9 beautiful dishes with sake and came home totally satisfied. It's hard to explain what Japanese food can be to people outside of Japan. The type of food available is also limited outside of the country. I wish there was something like this in the US.

We also made a trip to Nikko. Dad's company has a vacation home there and as kids, we use to go there in the summer every year. It was nice to be able to take Patrick and the kids to a place where we enjoyed as kids. The house is in a mountain and located on a lakeside - Chuzenjiko. It's been so hot and humid in Yokohama but up in the mountains, it was chilly and refreshing. We went to an Onsen, first time for Pat. I was a bit worried about his reaction to the Japanese way of stripping all the way down to get into a public bath with old men but he was fine with it.

We purchased Japan Rail Pass which is valid for a week. Our initial plan was to go to Hiroshima to see the A-bomb dome and the museum there along with other sites. But because of this heat (and even hotter in Hiroshima), we changed our plan to go North to Sendai instead. Terran is making full use of the JR pass. He loves the Japanese trains and shinkansen so for this week that the pass is valid, Pat is taking him on all of his favorite trains. He knows the names of so many trains and gets so excited by the site of them. One main reason we chose to go to sendai is so that we can ride his favorite train, Komachi.... His knowledge of Japanese trains surpass mine for sure.

Ooops, Sierra is up. Photos to come.

We

Green China

I was just watching the news and saw that the sea where Olympics sailing events are to take place is covered in algae. The news interviewed a Japanese athelete who recently practiced there. She said it was like sailing on a soccer field....
Found a clip on the web. Check it out.
It seems like anything can go wrong in China.

Sister found

So we finally found our sister. After 3 weeks of emails and phone messages from mom, dad, my other sister, and myself, asking her to please contact, it finally came down to calling her roommate to ask her to call us. She never called but emailed. I just don't understand....

My sister

We have been trying to contact my sister, Wako, via phone and email to no avail. I think we've been trying for about 2 weeks. She doesn't write or call us back.... My parents are driving me mad with their worries. This is not the first time it has happened. In fact, it's not the second time. But everytime they don't hear responses to numerous calls and email attempts, they worry. I am sure she has her reasons and maybe she doesn't think it's a big deal to delay responding. I am not sure. Has anyone been in touch with her physically or virtually?

photos

My parents and my kids at Yakashita-koen. It's my dad's favorite park and he goes there at least once a day. He came home early so we all decided to go take a walk before dinner.


My mom takes care of some kids at night once in awhile. She picks them up from daycare at 7pm and they stay til their parents come pick them up at 9pm. This is unthinkable for me but in Japan, it's typical for people to work really late, I guess. So on Thursday night, Terran had a blast with these 2 girls. He's been going to daycare in Chinatown with them so he loves it when they come over.


Terran and Sierra eating cookies after pm nap. Sierra generally loves food and she eats most things we stick in her mouth. Very different from her older brother....


At Yamashita koen, they use to have a small indoor sitting area filled with vending machines. Naturally this became a homeless hangout. Recently, they renovated this space to house "Happy Lawson". Half of it is a convenient store called "Lawson". The other half is still part of Lawson but they built an indoor playgym for kids and put some tables so families could either bring food or buy something at the store and eat there. It's nice to have a place like this.



My dad and Terran at Yamashita koen. He taught Terran to raise his hand when crossing street (just like other Japanese kids), so they are demonstrating it.

Photos

Most of the time Terran is not interested in playing with Sierra. But he will play with her once in awhile. I love it when they are like this. Sierra is usually entertained by watching him run around and do his thing.




They had an old train at the zoo and Terran loved climbing into it. He makes me pretend I am the driver and he's the passanger. So I pretend to drive it making all kinds of train sounds while other parents watch....



We took a cab to the zoo (because the entrance is on top of a hill) but we walked home and stopped by at Yokohama koen on the way. To me, Terran looks so mature here, but at home, he sits on my lap, hugs me, and says "I'm your baby".



Sierra has 4 beautiful teeth now so she has her own pink toothbrush. But she always perfers to stick mine in her mouth.... That's pretty gross. She is so attached to me now. When she sees me holding Terran, she looks at us with envy. If she's close enough to us, she will scream and tries to push Terran away from me.

Earthquake

There was an earthquake yesterday morning. Epicenter was somewhere in Northern Japan. According to the news, the center was in a countryside somewhere but 3 have been reportedly killed and about 200 injured. From the images that we see on TV, a large wooded mountain area seems to have totally collapsed; very scary.

For us, here in Yokohama, we had a magnitude 3 shake that lasted for awhile. I was trying to put Sierra down for her am nap. It started shaking while she was standing, supporting herself on the bed. She felt it and started laughing. I got scared so I grabbed her and rushed in to the living room, calling out for my mom. Terran was also in the living room and excitedly saying "mama, we're moving fast!" The kids really thought it was fun while I looked at the sea below to make sure there's no Tsunami coming our way. Since we are on the 20th floor of a steel framed highrise, the ductility of the material makes us feel as if we were on a boat, being swayed back and forth by the waves. I don't know how long the actual quake lasted. For us, we continued to sway for at least 3 minutes. It made me feel seasick. At that point, I yearned to go back to Lawrenceville, NJ. I hope for no more quakes while we are here.

These days....

Sierra has had a fever for the last 3 days. Now her face is all red and she has spots on her belly and back. I am hoping its roseola and that she will be done with it in a few days. Even though she doesn't have her usualy beautiful face, she still seems happy so I am glad....

We decided to send Terran to school for 3 hours a day so that he can play with some friends and learn Japanese. My mom takes care of some kids once in awhile at home. One night last week, a girl Terran's age came over and he had a blast. After that, Terran kept on saying the he wants to go to his friend's school. Since my mom knows all the caretakers at that school, he got in no problem. In exchange, they asked her to come work for them during the summer.... She hesitates but that is not my problem :) It's actually a chinese daycare in Chinatown but at preschool level, they do everything in Japanese. Terran seems to be liking it so far.

It's rainy season in Japan and there's been more rainy days than sunny days since we got here. Sun has been rare and when Terran gets up in the morning so when he sees the sun, he gets so excited.

Sashimi is so cheap and yummy in Japan. It's hard to take kids out to sushi restuarants so we just get sashimi from the grocery store. The fish is comparable or may be better than what we get at out favorite Japanese restaurant in Princeton, Ajihei - at a fraction of the price. Couple of nights ago, I went to Union, a grocery store in Motomachi, to buy some soy yogurt for Sierra. As I was wandering around the store, they had really nice sashimi for half off. So I bought enough for dinner for my parents and myself (kids were in bed). When I got home, I asked my dad if he thinks the fish is OK to eat. He says of course. He explained to me that the Japanese regulation allows the grocery store to have sashimi on shelf for just a few hours. After that time is up, they cannot sell it. So in order to sell the sashimi during that time, they start reducing the price.